


believe in you

by sxndazed



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, Introspection, M/M, POV Hinata Shouyou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27889639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sxndazed/pseuds/sxndazed
Summary: Shouyou knows love in the form of actions, but he learns it in the form of words too.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 7
Kudos: 114





	believe in you

Shouyou knows love in the form of actions.

He sees it when his friends set for him, join a team with him just so he can compete once on a real court before middle school is over. He sees it in the way Sugawara practices receives with him during lunch and how Nishinoya tends to his growth with demonstrations and excitement that rivals his own. He sees it when Yachi takes the time to go over her notes during breaks and on weekends, pointing out what he can do better and guiding him to help him learn.

Words, on the other hand, are a fickle thing.

Taunts and teases about Shouyou's height and his abilities follow him throughout his years in school. Taunts and teases about his single-minded goal to play volleyball follow him right into high school and sometimes beyond.

How can you play volleyball when you're so short?

How can you play volleyball when you're so bad?

He hears the disdain in Kageyama's voice when he asks for a toss in the beginning when all he could do was jump, hears the dripping sarcasm in Tsukishima's words when he thinks he's done something cool.

Words are fickle, but actions aren't.

The disdain doesn't matter, doesn't exist, when Kageyama meets his eyes and tosses to him each and every time for years with a solid sense of trust they've built. It doesn't matter how much of a dick Tsukishima sounds like when he spends his evenings teaching him English and going over his work and treats him with a kindness reserved for friends, no matter how reluctant he is.

Love is Natsu buying him a new wallet after seeing his old one fall apart and the people who have fostered his growth in high school seeing him off in the middle of the night as he flies off to another continent to start at square one. It's a bright smile from Pedro when they talk about One Piece, a set tossed over the sand by Oikawa with a wicked grin and newfound trust, and a handshake that becomes a partnership that turns into a friendship from Heitor.

Shouyou is familiar with love in actions, has seen it demonstrated for years. It does not occur to him that love in words can be just as honest.

He recalls a pointed finger and a declaration, a promise, from the other side of the net when he's sixteen and riding high from a victory. He remembers confusion and a silent acceptance and dismissal all at once. What use are words when actions speak louder?

But he remembers those words a year later, staring across the net at blond hair and bright eyes. Atsumu said he'd beat them, and that much is true. Atsumu said he'd toss to him one day, and Shouyou silently hopes that that will be true someday too.

So those words sit in the back of his mind as the years go by. They sit there as he learns how to begin again in a sport he so dearly loves, learns how to navigate Portuguese over Japanese, busy streets, and the way loneliness settles in his bones. It's a passing thought, that declaration, when he trains tirelessly to make sure he's capable, that he can do anything and everything to prove his skill. After all, Shouyou knows love in actions, and how else would he show his love for volleyball than by flying to Brazil and committing to it?

The words move closer to the forefront when he flies home and signs up for tryouts. They're loud, flashing like a bright neon sign in the dark of night, when he gets a jersey with the number '21' and his name boldly displayed on the back. They're loud when he looks at Atsumu and declares that he's here, waiting on a promise to be fulfilled.

And it is.

Half a decade later and he's spiking a ball that's tossed to his hand like it was called there, like it was meant to be there. Shouyou lands on his feet and turns to Atsumu, to shout and exclaim the amazing feeling of spiking a ball tossed by him, when he sees the way Atsumu looks at him. There's a smile stretching across his face, and his eyes are gleaming under the lights of the gym. Shouyou looks at him and thinks  _ oh _ and becomes aware of love there too.

It's a love that slowly grows from actions built on one another. It's there from extended practices late into the evening and a water bottle handed to him when they're tired and sweaty. It's there from a knock on his door to reveal Atsumu holding a bag with onigiri from Osamu and the way he doesn't hesitate to share them with Shouyou. Love grows from the tosses Atsumu gives him and the way he'll spike any ball Shouyou tosses to him too. It grows from the way Atsumu invites him to dinner at his place, the way he cooks and looks at him with nervous eyes to see if it's any good, and the way he flushes when Shouyou reaches for his hand and laces their fingers together. Love grows in their exchange of actions, and it exists in the way they touch and kiss.

Love is in the way Atsumu gives and takes, but Shouyou also sees it in the way he speaks.

Atsumu says his name in so many different ways that Shouyou couldn't even begin to count (and he's tried). It's playful when he ruffles his hair and snarky when he's pulled something particularly cheeky during a play. It's a whine when he plops his chin on top of Shouyou's head to complain about something Osamu's done or the way his serves aren't quite shaping up to what he wants. It's a gasp like he's breathless when they kiss and bright when he eats what Shouyou made for them.

His favourite, Shouyou thinks, is when Atsumu looks at him, eyes soft and gleaming, and says his name with a gentle reverence that leaves his skin flushed and tingly.

"Shouyou-kun," Atsumu says as though Shouyou has shown him the entire world in the blink of an eye, as though Shouyou is so precious that he would do anything for him. He says it as though it is an "I love you." 

"Atsumu-san," Shouyou replies because maybe he believes him.

Atsumu speaks his love as much as he shows it. He hears it in the way Atsumu asks about his day or tells him about something that reminded him of Shouyou. He hears it in the words  _ my, mine, and yours, _ and Shouyou learns to believe them without looking for actions to back them up.

When Atsumu looks at him and says, "I love you," Shouyou thinks back to the actions that have built their relationship, the words he's spoken since, and the declaration he made when Shouyou was sixteen and unsure and replies in kind because he  _ believes him. _

Shouyou knows love in the form of actions, has seen it and experienced it for years. Words are fickle, will always remain fickle, but he learns to know love in their form too.


End file.
